OnTap Magazine

48 | Winter 2025 | ontapmag.co.za BREWER On Tap contributor and Brew Review panel member Brian Leopold has long wanted to sit down with Carl Nienaber: the mind behind 400 Brewing Company and their iconic annual release, 'Harambe.’ The first Harambe made its appearance back in 2016, meaning this year’s release was number nine! The conversation below reveals Carl’s journey into beer – and of course how Harambe came to life – as well as what Carl has in store for us at his Cape Town-based beer bar, Spinal Tap. MEET A THE STORY BEHIND CARL NIENABER’S VIRAL ‘GORILLA BEER’ BL: Where did you grow up and what made you get into brewing in general? CN: Well, I grew up in Johannesburg, in Highlands North – on the same road as Highlands Boys High School actually – but I went to King Edwards (Kez Boys). I moved on to study at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and lived in Cape Town for a couple of years before moving back to Johannesburg. Around 2010 I was a suit in advertising doing client service; this was probably around two years after the financial crisis. Things didn't seem like they were going too great in the world, and I started thinking that if the world collapsed tomorrow, who would need someone in the industry I'm in? I thought to myself that beer has been around almost since the dawn of civilisation and it will probably still be around at the end of civilization. So why not look into that? BL: Did you have anyone to assist you in learning to brew when you first started? CN: No, weirdly enough not at all. But going back to the initial question, I think a lot of my decision to brew beers came from a book I was reading called Collapse by Jared Diamond which was about the collapse of society. In the book he mentions that over the next 50-100 years, we will go through this collapse, however, certain areas will still be necessary. Brewing was one of those areas, so I thought: I like beer, why not get into that? BL: Where did your brewing experience begin then? CN: Well, if you can recall National Food Products in Blairgowrie side, they sold all these homebrew kits and I remember I bought the pilsener kit without even knowing what a pilsener was, and I sure as s*** didn't know what a pale ale was at that point – so pilsener it was! I brewed it up and I'm sure it